Let’s face it: building a brand today is not just about logos, taglines, or big campaigns. It’s about staying connected to how people actually feel about your brand, and using those insights to grow with purpose. The good news? You don’t need a crystal ball. You just need the right goals, tools, and mindset to track what matters and make decisions that actually move the needle.

1. Start With Clear Goals: Know What "Winning" Looks Like

Before you get buried in metrics, take a moment to zoom out. What does brand success mean for your business? Do you want to be more visible? Build stronger emotional connections? Get customers to come back again and again? Or maybe you’re looking to grow your market share and justify premium pricing.

Instead of vague ideas, aim for clear, measurable goals. Something like:

“Increase our NPS from 30 to 50 in 12 months”.

“Raise unaided brand awareness by 20% by Q4”.

These specific targets help focus your efforts, and keep everyone aligned on what matters most.

2. Know the Numbers That Really Matter

Not all metrics are created equal. Here are the ones that actually tell you how your brand is doing:

Net Promoter Score (NPS): How likely are your customers to recommend you? It’s a big indicator of loyalty. Anything above 30 is good. 70+ is elite.

Brand Awareness & Recall: Do people remember your brand without being prompted (unaided)? Or only when they see it (aided)? Tools like surveys and Google Trends help you track this.

Perception & Sentiment: How do people feel about your brand? Social listening tools like Brandwatch and Sprinklr can tell you if the buzz is positive, neutral, or worrying.

Brand Preference: Are people actually choosing you over your competitors? Preference is strongly linked to sales success, so this is a biggie.

Share of Voice (SOV): How much are people talking about you compared to others in your space?

Loyalty & Advocacy: Returning customers, referral rates, and lifetime value (CLV) all show if people stick with you, and bring others along.

Engagement & Usage: Are people interacting with your brand? Think repeat visits, social media activity, email opens, and more.

Market Share & Brand Value: Are you capturing more of the market? And can you charge more just because of who you are? That’s real brand power.

3. Use the Right Tools : Don’t Try to Wing It

You don’t need to track all this manually. There are some amazing tools out there that do the heavy lifting for you:

Surveys & Feedback: Platforms like SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics are great for measuring NPS and brand perception directly from your audience. 

Social Listening: Tools like Sprinklr or Brandwatch show how people are talking about you online, in real time.

Web Analytics: Google Analytics (GA4) helps you understand where your traffic comes from, what people do on your site, and where they drop off.

CRM Platforms: Systems like HubSpot or Zoho help track customer acquisition, loyalty, churn, and more.

Marketing ROI (ROMI): Use formulas to track how much your campaigns actually deliver , both in sales and softer metrics like awareness and pipeline health.

4. Build a Brand Tracking System That Works

Here’s the thing: tracking only works when you do it consistently. So build a system that’s easy to manage and tells a full story.

Set objectives for each stage of the customer journey. What do you want during the awareness phase? How about when they’re considering you?

Pick 5–8 key metrics you’ll monitor, ones that align with your goals.

Establish a rhythm. Check web analytics weekly, review sentiment monthly, run brand perception surveys quarterly.

Set benchmarks and goals. Like “Improve NPS by 5 points each quarter” or “Maintain brand search volume 10% above the competition.”

Use dashboards like Tableau or Google Data Studio to bring it all together.

Create feedback loops. Get your marketing, PR, product, and sales teams in the same room once a month to discuss what’s working, and what needs fixing.

5. Turn What You Learn Into Growth Moves

All this tracking is pointless if you don’t act on it. So here’s what to do with the insights you gather:

To Boost Awareness:

Run bold campaigns that earn attention.

Use paid search to dominate branded keywords and defend your turf.

To Improve Perception:

Partner with influencers or invest in PR if your sentiment takes a hit.

Measure how campaigns shift how people talk about you.

To Build Preference:

Focus on quality, experience, and storytelling — people buy what they emotionally connect to.

Remember: preference = growth.

To Strengthen Loyalty:

Launch rewards and referral programs. Loyal customers often spend way more — up to 67% more over time.

To Optimize ROI:

Compare performance across platforms and double down where results are strongest.

JLL did this with 16 KPIs and actually cut costs by 11% while quadrupling their results.

6. Real-World Wins: Brands That Got It Right

JLL’s Rebrand Success: In 2022, real estate giant JLL revamped its brand and implemented a performance framework across 16 different metrics. The result? A 3x jump in pipeline contribution and 4x revenue contribution, all with fewer resources.

Luxury Brands & Social Listening: Analysts watching brands like Louis Vuitton and Burberry now track sentiment on Instagram and Twitter as early indicators of market performance. It’s not just about fashion anymore, it’s about feeling the pulse of the audience.

7. Make Growth a Habit, Not a One-Off

Here’s the cycle smart brands live by:

1. Strategize – Set clear goals (e.g., grow unaided recall by 15%).
2. Measure – Benchmark NPS, share of voice, sentiment.
3. Deploy – Launch your campaign or new feature.
4. Analyze – Did your metrics move?
5. Optimize – Lean into what worked, fix what didn’t.
6. Repeat – Keep the rhythm going. Quarterly reviews = continuous improvement.

 

Tracking With Heart and Purpose

Let’s be real: data can feel cold. But behind every metric is a real person making a decision, forming an opinion, or building trust with your brand. If you track the right things, consistently, and turn that into action, you’re not just measuring brand health. You’re creating meaningful growth.

So take a deep breath, set your goals, build your system, and stay curious. Your brand has a story to tell, make sure it’s one people remember, love, and come back to.